Comment Tv too, only the effects suck (Score 1) 532
I'm quite partial to original series that you find on USA: Burn Notice, White Collar, Psych, Covert Affairs, etc. It not the best writing and production, but I'd rather watch any of those over pointless sitcoms any day (I also prefer the longer format). Several of these shows have been using CGI or cheesy digital effects in places that really surprised me. In Covert Affairs all the external aerial shots of the CIA headquarters are rather cheesy 3D, and don't add much to the show and ultimately take me out of the story and annoy me each time they are shown.
Also in one of the seasons of White Collar for 4 or 5 episodes every time Peter meets his wife, they are obviously in a studio with a green screen and the New York background is being inserted digitally. I later found out this was because the actress playing his wife was pregnant and couldn't travel to New York where they shoot on location most of the time. I still don't understand why they had to be outdoor settings in every scene though, and the overall effect was so bad that I wanted to puke and ended up fast-forwarding through those scenes rather than be distracted by how bad the effects are.
I suspect that overall the technology has gotten alot cheaper and more than ever the 'fix it in post' attitude is taking over when studios and networks are trying to tighten up on costs, and increase profit margins. This is in turn leading to cheaper and cheaper digital effects that end up really distracting from the end product rather than making it better.